


Honeymoon

by notjustmom



Series: One More Vow [7]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Tony Stark/Stephen Strange, Honeymoon, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-02-23 02:56:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23004643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: After the wedding...
Relationships: Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: One More Vow [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1513868
Comments: 38
Kudos: 51





	1. Chapter 1

“Where do you want to go?” He had asked a week before the ceremony.

“Go?”

“Honeymoon? We are getting married, right? Honeymoon usually follows. Tradition and all.”

“You want to go somewhere? Now?”

“Why not now?” Tony breathed against his chest then reached for his hand.

“I know, it’s just - I know you are almost finished with -”

“Sunshine, I promised you, you come first, we come first. It’s December, but we could take the jet and go anywhere you want, somewhere warm, where no one knows us. We could just disappear for a few days.”

Stephen threaded their fingers together and after a moment’s hesitation, cleared his throat. “I did get some time off - Christine made me - take some time off. I honestly don’t care where I am, as long as I am with you.”

Tony sat up, still holding onto Stephen’s hand, then smiled down at him. “There must be some place you have dreamed of seeing. Paris, Vienna, Venice?”

“You’ve seen them all.”

“Yes, but not with you.”

Stephen brought their joined hands to his mouth, and smiled as he heard Tony’s sharply indrawn breath before he placed a gentle kiss over his knuckles. “Do you know what I want most?”

“Tell me?”

“A couple nights, just you and me, a little B&B, room service, no television, no phones. Just us. Doesn’t matter where. Then we come home and get on with things, get on with whatever happens next.”

Tony blinked at him, then leaned down, and with a single touch of his lips, without a word, promised him anything he could ever want. “Have I told you that I love you today.”

Stephen glanced over at the bedside clock and shook his head. “Nope. It’s three minutes after midnight, so I’m certain you haven’t.”

“Damn. I love you.”

“Yeah, doll-face, I know. If there is some place you want to go -”

Tony shook his head. “Nope. If I never get on another plane, that’s fine with me.”

Stephen rolled his eyes at him. “Stark.”

“I want you to be happy.”

“While you give yourself a panic attack?”

“It’s the thought that counts?” Tony asked with a grin and the bambi eyes that Stephen still had no answer for.

“There’s a place near my old med school. Could never afford it. One of those snooty frou-frou places.”

“Done. Will be done later this morning.”

“What if it’s booked up?”

“I’ll buy out the place.”

Stephen couldn’t help but laugh, then he wrapped his arms around him, and rumbled into his hair, “Love you, doll-face. There are days when I can barely breathe when I think about you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. One day, I’ll get used to this, to you, to us, but for now -”

“I’ll never get used to you. Never in a million years.”


	2. Chapter 2

"Honeymoon Suite?" Stephen asked as Tony tried the key card a couple of times before he handed it off to him. "I hope you didn't have to - oh." Stephen's breath caught as he opened the door easily to see that it was covered in sunflowers. Without a word Tony swept him into his arms and carried him over the threshold and didn't stop until he settled him onto the biggest bed Stephen had ever seen.

"I hope the wait was worth it," Tony whispered as he dropped onto the bed next to him and closed his eyes. 

Stephen rolled onto his side and studied his husband of less than twelve hours, wondering if there was anything fundamentally different about him, about them, now that they were legally and every other way attached to one another, more or less as permanently as two people could be. 

"What?" Tony asked gently as he opened his eyes and found he was being so studied. "And no, I didn't have to toss anyone out so I could get this room for you. Getting married at Christmas has its advantages." He paused, then finally asked, "Did I do something wrong? Too many sunflowers?"

"No. No, I was just trying to determine if there was anything different about you now, I mean since -" Stephen watched as Tony looked down at the ring that now adorned his finger.

"I don't know," he answered cautiously, before he looked back into Stephen's glittering eyes. "I was kinda waiting for something to happen, you know, something to stop it from happening? But it happened, and the world didn't end, and you were there, looking beautiful, and happy, and I felt like I had done something clever, which I had, since I managed to put a ring on your finger." He reached over and lifted Stephen's hand that was resting on the bed, and spent a few moments just holding it, then muttered, "sorry," under his breath, and almost let it go.

"Why?"

"I could do this all day."

"Hold my hand?" Stephen asked with surprise. There was a look of disbelief in his eyes at first, then as Tony looked over at him again, it had become something like contentment. "I don't mind."

"Really?" Tony smiled at him then finally relaxed and rolled onto his side, still holding onto his hand. 

"There is something different about you." Stephen said after a few moments.

"Yeah? And what would that be?" Tony asked, as he looked up at him shyly.

"You finally believe I'm going to stay."

Tony drew in a breath sharply, but found himself nodding. "How do you know?"

"I see it in how you look at me, you aren't trying to memorize my face anymore. So, no, I don't mind if you hold my hand all day, as long as you don't mind if I watch over you as you sleep."

"It's that simple." Tony said with a sigh as he closed his eyes again and drifted off to sleep. It wasn't a question, more of an arrival, an answer to a question he'd been trying to find an answer to, from the moment they had seen each other across the bookshop.

"It's that simple," Stephen answered anyway. He gave a thought to getting up and taking off Tony's shoes and then his own, but he knew they had all the time in the world, for the next week, at least, and he smiled as Tony threaded their fingers together and kicked his shoes off. He almost laughed, but instead, kicked off his own shoes and spent the next six hours watching Tony sleep until he too, finally gave in to his exhaustion and fell asleep as the sun was setting.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony woke up slowly for once, not startled awake by a dream, or the sound of the baby monitor, or an idea that he needed to work on and for a moment wondered where he was, until he felt Stephen's fingers still tangled with his and he remembered. 

They were married, and on their honeymoon. 

He finally opened his eyes to find Stephen smiling back at him. He didn't want to talk, or think, he just wanted to -

Stephen reached out and pulling him closer, brushed a kiss against his forehead, then sighed contentedly as Tony draped his arm over his hip. He didn't need to ask how he was, it was there in his eyes, in the way he held him, even how he breathed told him Stephen was exactly where he wanted to be. Before this moment, there were always issues, deadlines, and yes, even the needs of other people that would force him to overthink everything - to overthink him, them. Now, all he wanted to do was to just be there with him. Stephen kissed his forehead again and whispered, "Me too, doll-face."

He closed his eyes, then opened them again, and couldn't stop himself from grinning.

"What?" Stephen asked.

"I'm just still kinda waiting -"

"For the world to end?"

"Yeah. It feels -" Tony stopped and searched for the word that could tell him everything he wants to say, then realized that the word hadn't been invented yet, what he felt was bigger and stronger than peace and love, and - no - there was a word. "It feels like what I imagine bliss is supposed to be. Wasn't really sure I knew before." 

Stephen nodded then said quietly, "I hope it's okay, then, if we just do this a bit longer? I just don't want to move from this spot for the next few hours. Does that sound weird to you?"

"No. Not weird at all," Tony answered, then sighed as Stephen's arms wrapped tightly around him, and he found himself drifting off to sleep again. "Love you, Sunshine."

"Love you, doll-face."


	4. Chapter 4

He wondered at his patience; it was not something either of them had much use for, or practice with since they had been together, and he knew for himself, outside of his work, he didn't consider it much of a virtue. And yet, when he opened his eyes, several hours later, Tony was still there, next to him, wide awake, and once again studying the hand that he held in his two smaller ones.

"Hey, Sunshine." He looked down and smiled easily at him.

"Sorry. I didn't realize how exhausted I was."

"I knew. I know the last few months have been a wild ride, at least they have been for me. I've never been good at, well, making myself stop and take some time to look at what is happening around me. Never had the time or the inclination, especially recently. I just had to keep going, because I didn't have any other option, really."

"And now?" Stephen asked quietly.

"Now? I just want to slow down, at least this week, and, well, I just want you."

"You have me, every bit of me. You know that, right?"

Tony nodded, a bit shyly, then went back to studying his hand.

Stephen slowly sat up, making sure Tony could still hold onto his hand. It still amazed him that from that first night, when he had stayed for a few hours at his apartment, even before, he had known to trust him, had known he was safe with him. He still wondered what it was he had seen in the brown eyes that were now searching his face for a sign of - "I'm still trying to figure it out."

"Figure what out?" Stephen asked.

"How I knew. I just knew, and for the first time in my life, I trusted the little voice in my head, even as I tried to talk myself out of it, I trusted you. Maybe it was something in your eyes, the way you kissed me that first time we went to dinner, then walked away from me, you were so much stronger than me that night."

Stephen grinned at him and shook his head. "You have no idea how hard that was for me. Even then, I just wanted - I think because I wanted you more than I had ever wanted anything, even more than I wanted to be a surgeon, I wanted you. But, I didn't know what to do with that sense of -"

"I knew you. I don't believe in soul mates, or past lives or whatever, but I felt like -"

"I had known you forever," Stephen finished.

"Yeah, that."

"Are you hungry?"

Tony smiled at him and nodded. "I'm starving. I checked to make sure - damn, it's 2 A.M."

"I know a place, cheeseburgers, 24/7."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, but do you want to take a shower first?"

Tony's eyes grew darker, then he pressed a kiss to the center of Stephen's hand, and he answered, "Yes, please." He stopped then and looking into his eyes said, uncertainly, "Do you know, I can't remember ever feeling this at peace with everything, I'm just afraid that I'll get used to it. I know that sounds -"

"No, I completely understand, doll-face." He leaned down and kissed him gently, then helped him out of bed, and offering him his hand again, led him into the enormous bathroom. "Cheeseburgers are calling."

"How did I so lucky?" Tony whispered, and realized with a bit of a surprise, that he was aware how lucky he truly was for the first time in a very long time.


	5. Chapter 5

Looking back later, Stephen realized the moment they settled into his old booth in one of the few places he had felt safe in before he met Tony was the moment he realized he was truly beginning to heal. As he sat back to watch Tony use his charm on Maggie, a woman who had been through worse hell than he had, and saw a rare smile light up her face, he let out a sigh of relief and relaxed further into the seat.

Tony had raised a curious eyebrow at him, but went on telling Maggie the story of how they had met, until she laughed and said, with a huff as she ruffled Stephen's hair, "You two - figures Doc here would fall in love like he lived in the movies, or something." She rolled her eyes and yelled out their order, then went off to start their milkshakes.

"What was it, back in the diner?" Tony asked with a yawn as they finally climbed into bed again, just as the weak December sunrise was trying to brighten the skyline.

"It was nothing."

"Doc."

Stephen shrugged, then took Tony's hand in his and whispered, "I'm - it's just," and words failed him as he shook his head. He tried again. "You. You know me better than anyone else and you love me anyway." He rolled his eyes as he felt a single tear slide down his face. "It's stupid."

Tony sat up and smiling gently at him wiped the tear from his face, and as he held cradled his face in his hands whispered, "It isn't. I waited all of my life for you, I just didn't know it until I saw you sitting in that diner, chatting with Maggie, and then when I sat down again, you winked at me, as if you recognized something about me that no one else knew. I realized I could just be me, and you would still be there, still want me."

Stephen answered him with a kiss, then said quietly, "I'll always want you, doll-face, always."

"Yeah?"

Stephen rolled his eyes at him, but nodded. "Yeah, I promise. In fact, I already did just that, remember - just a little over a day ago now?"

"That's right, you did."

"I'm not afraid - no. That's not true. Now, I'm just more afraid that one day I'll lose you, than I am to love you. I'm not afraid to love you anymore, I know that you love me, too. Yesterday, I promised to be by your side no matter what, Tony Stark, and I mean to keep that promise. Got it?"

"Yeah, Doc, I got it." Tony whispered back, "I got it," then sighed contented, against his chest and in no time at all was fast asleep.


End file.
